Justifying device



May 18, 1954- R. HIGONNET 2,673,712

JUSTIFYING DEVICE Filed Sept. 1, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3

iiA

INVENTOR.

REN HIGONNET BY WMM ATTORNEYS y 18, 1954 R. HIGONNET 2,678,712

JUSTIFYING DEVICE Filed Sept. 1, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig. 4

I INVENTOR. RENE H\GONNET ATTORNEYS May 18, 1954 Filed Sept. 1 1951 R- HIGONNET JUSTIFYING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 2 KEYBOARD '1 I I I i l Flg. 6 4 I I l l I REGIsTER I z I I I I I TIMING MEANS 52 SWITCH SWITCH CHARACTER Esszseazm MEANS CARRIAGE l6 INVENTOR. RENE HIGONNET ATTORNEYS Patented May 18, 1954 Graphic Arts:

l1ridge,,Mass., a, corner Research Foundation; Inc., Camation of Delaware Applicatiomseptember 1, 1951,;Serial No: 244,841- ;1

Claims priority, applicationFrance 1 October 6, 1945 '7 Claims; (Cl. 197-84) The present invention relates to amethodand apparatus for producing justified-linesof written matter, and more particularly-concernsthe justi-i fication of printed lines byapparatussuitable. for usein conjunction-with type composing ma- This application is a continuation-ilk chines. part of my copending application-Serial N0. 700,937, filed October 3,

and Moyroud'file'd -on even date herewith as a continuation-in-part of aprior application, JS-e rial- No. 610,336,'filed August- 11, 1945.

The final'obj'ect of justification is to produce successive lines-of characters of thesame length, despite the varying content of the respective lines. Numerous methods-i01- doing -this are known and used; they involve varying may be distinguished-from one another accord ing to the differences in spacing of the characters which are brought about by the 'justification; In order -toplace the present invention in itsvproper"relationto the art, a nomenclature which is to be used is I refer to the desired-length of the justified line as justified line length, or as'-the symbol IJf (represented by the sum of tween Words) number of spaces between words inthe line; also called word spaces or interw'ordsi is..represented by N, andthis is alwaysxone less than the actual number of words themselves. Justification can be brought aboutinseveral' ways, depending upon how in the line; the interwords only; justification. Another methodi' is itoidivide D among the total numberof characters andr...in;-

terwords counting each .character and interrword as a unit; this is called -iritercharacter justifia. A third. method -is-a. combination. of the first two, andis calledfmixedjustificationzi" cation.

One of the'known justifyingmethods is simply to divide D by N and to produce in a. mechanical element a displacement representingr thelouotient. If I only a limited number sizes are available for selection,

l946 and now abancloned, and involves improvements intheapparatus disclosed in the'appli'catiorr of Higonnetdegrees i. of complexity'andbulk of equipment; and also the arrangement: and

Similarly, the length of the unjustified line the assigned widt-hs of each of the characters-selectedfor theline, plus an arbitrarily-assigned minimum space :beis referred. to. as unjustifi'ed line length, or as L. The difference betWeenLJ and L is the line deficit, or simply D;' The the line defic'it D isuba 1 divided and distributedas increments ofs'pace' One method is to divide Dfamongv this iscalled =-interword of. increment" then: isincei: the.

' type -or to provide.

quotientl-D/N is :seldom: likely to .equal' exactly 1 any one of the available incrementfsizes, the. resulting lines cannot all be ofvexactly' the justified line lengthzJ. It is-necessarytodistortthe a large enough selection. of. increment: sizesso:that' the: discrepancies in: the.-

margins will:notnbexobjectionably large.

In: linotypei machines; in-v contrastto. the fore-' going; theimethodiis to forcei-anumber ofwedges' between the words; or t-inxsome'cases:

characters; until: the 1 cast line exactly :fills the.

space. between two fiixed 'abutmentsseparatedby the 1 length 3.5: This method :maybe -varied: for

the purposes: of. photographic type composing by setting upma 1111.8",01'" blocksior spacing. devices, having widthscorresponding: to the respective characters and minimumvinterword's;

or of 'devicesrepresenting." type widths using a magazine and; distribution. apparatus.

Still another methodoffjustification; is shown in the patent to Bush, No. 2,379,862. Accord-- ingJto this methodpa: digital computing deviceiis employed to. determine an increment size closely approximating-the exactquotiientD/N: The in-':-

crementsize thus determined is notiused' through: out.the line.'(except when-.;-DZN- happens to be. an

integer); but; is changed at. some point so that;-

eachi-line is .of "the exact length; J

Inl the aboveementioned*copending application an apparatus capable of.-.producinglines-of exactly jjustified line. length: is. described. This apparatus .is adapted: for-.usewith rigid; distor-- ployed. in: photographic type. composing. 1 apparatus, wherein: the characters are projected successively upona cordance with information; stored in a codedregister or memoryidevice. Such devices are to be contrasted-with equipment; using a. type magaezine and'idistributionr apparatus. A feature of the foregoing apparatus is an improvedlormnof justi-fier .rhaving,- provision; as in the Bushjustifier, .for :changing: the If justifying a increment at some point in each line: where-the: quotient D /N.'

cannotvbe. provided:= exactly byi a single one of the available increment 'si-zesitbutjusing, a system of, pre-selection which .obviates the performance of: any mathematicali computation.

A- feature of. the zpl'esent invention; is the: improvement: in the justifier r described win ,the se pending-- 'applicationygwhereby the principle Y of i avoiding ;-.-,computatiorr; is applied by:usetoii-stepping-switches rather than: contin-' r uous3'electrically-conducting areas. 1-This ime' between:

In eithercase, the, methodrinvolves the setting-up of type.

photo sensitive material in ac- 3 provement immediately introduces a method for adapting Well-known and existing types of equipment to this principle of justification.

Another feature of the invention resides in the procedure whereby the deficit measuring contacts on the stepping switch are caused to move in discrete steps representing character and minimum interword widths during the entire storage period. This makes it unnecessary to use a separate line length counter and means to transfer motion from the line length counter to the deficit measuring contacts to cause them to reach a position representing the deficit for the particular line.

Other features and objects of the invention relate to aspects of the procedure and apparatus employed which will be understood by referringto the drawings and related description to fol low.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagram representing the manner in which the justification may be brought about; Fig. 2 is a diagram similar to Fig. 1 showing a variant thereof; Fig. 3 shows an embodiment of the invention using a switch having a cylindrical array of contacts; Fig. 4 is a view partly in section of a variable escapement for spacing the characters and words under the control of the justifier; Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the variable escapement taken along the cutting line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is a block diagram of a complete photographic composing machine utilizing the embodiment of Fig. 3.

The principle of operation of the present invention may be shown by reference to Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 shows a field having rectangular coordinates N and D representing, respectively, the number of interwords and units of line deficit. It will be obvious that one may represent by means of such a field a large number of combinations of line deficit and interwords, the number of such combinations being purely a matter of choice.

The field is subdivided into a number of increment areas, or elements, i+0, i+1, i+2, etc., these areas being defined by straight lines such as N=D+a, N= (D+a), N= (D+a) etc., where a is a constant of less than one unit, the exact size being immaterial since its function is merely to shift the lines to the left so that none of them intersects a point at which the grid lines intersect each other.

Each of the increment areas, for every point falling within it, defines an interword distance equal to z, the minimum interword, plus an additional increment represented by the Arabic numeral following the plus sign. Both 2' and the increment are measured in multiples of a unitary distance, in which the line deficit D is also measured. Thus, for the point representing D=6 units and N=6 interwords, the corresponding increment area is i+1, defining an interword space of i+1 units.

Suppose, now, that a given line has a deficit D of 5 units and has 4 interwords. This is represented by the point P1! in Fig. 1. Suppose also that the first interword space in the line is to be defined by the increment area within which P! falls. In this case, the first interword will then contain i+1 units. It is apparent that if a like space were to be employed for each of the four interwords in the line, the total space consumed by the interwords would be 4(i+1) or 4i+4. It will be remembered that the line deficit D was originally computed in such a way that the resulting 5 units was the excess of J over L,

L being the sum of the character widths, plus 42. The resulting line would therefore be short of J by one space unit. To avoid this result, either of two procedures may be employed.

According to one procedure, after the first interword is given the value represented by the point Pl, the next interword will have a value represented by the point P2, one unit to the right of PI. This will again be z'+1 units. The third interword, repeating this procedure, will have a value represented by P3, and the fourth interword will have a value represented by P4. The last interword will have the value z+2, since the point P4 is in the increment area i+2. The total space consumed by the interwords will be 3(i+1) +i+2, or 4i+5, and the line will equal J exactly.

According to the other procedure, after the first interword is given the value represented by the point P I, the next interword will have a value represented by the point P5, one space below the point PI, and one unit to the left. The one unit to the left is determined by the fact that the point PI is in an area havin an increment of one unit. In like manner, the third interword is given the value represented by the point P6, one space below the point P5, and one unit to the left, since the point P5 is in the same area having an increment of one unit. The fourth interword is given the value i+2, since the point P1, one unit to the left and one space below the point P6, is in the area i+2. Thus, this procedure calls for a movement, after each interword space is determined, of one space down,

' and a movement to the left of as many units as there are increment units in the area containin the point from which the movement begins. It will be noted that, if there were any reason for so doing, a final movement from the point P! would comprise a movement of two units to the left and one space down, terminating in the origin of the diagram. This procedure results in each of the interwords being given the same value as provided by the first procedure, and the line will again equal J exactly.

Using either of the above-described procedures, it will be apparent that a solution givingrise to an exactly justified line is provided for every combination of line deficit and interwords represented by a point on the diagram. However, it will be apparent that some adjustment must be made for cases where the operation causes a point to be reached which is below the area i+4. Since the areas become increasingly narrower it is graphically convenient to encircle such points, as shown in Fig. l, and to designate such points as i+5, i+6, etc. These points are treated as defining interword values in the same manner as the areas above.

Fig. 2 is substantially similar to Fig. 1, with certain differences which are stated below. The principal difference is that the lines defining the increment areas are N=D-a, N= (D-a), N= (Da), etc.; that is, the lines are shifted to the right instead of to the left. The increment areas are also given a value one unit higher than in the case of Fig. 1. Thus, althou h the areas are numbered differently than in Fig. 1, for the point D=6 units and N=6 interwords the corresponding increment area is i+1, or the same as in Fig. 1. Another difference is that a vertical line mm is drawn b units to the right of the vertical axis of the diagram, thus separating the area i+1 from an area i+0. The reason for this line is explained below.

As in Fig. 1, two justifying procedures-may be employed using Fig. to the first procedhreofFigs-l, except that-instead of moving-to the right; as from P! to P2 to P3, etc., the movement-is-to the left. Thus, starting from an initial position-at P8, themovement is to P9, to P10, and finallyuto-Pl I. The second procedure is exactly thesame as the second procedure described in connectionwith Fig. 1; that is, starting from'theinitial point-P8, the movement is to Pl-2, then to Pl3,'and-finally to PM.

Both methods used on-this-diagram produce an identical result;- as in thecase of Fig. 1. However, it will be noted thatthedistribution of the interword spaces ;will difier-iromthat producedby using Fig. 1. 'In the-caseof Fig. l, ift-he interword increment-changes at some point in the line, the change will consist of an increase in the increment of one-unit; In the case of Fig. 2, the change'will consist of a decrease in the increment of one unit.

Suppose, in Fig. 2, that D=l unit and N=6 interwords. The initial-point will then beat P15. It will be apparentthata correct result requires that five interwords shall'have the minimum value 2', and one-shall havethe value +1. For this reason the line-mm is provided so that, after the first interword is determinedby the point -H5, the subsequent movements, by-either of the two methods, will bring all subsequent points within the increment area 1+0.

It will be apparent after a consideration of Figs. 1 and 2 that analogous diagrams-may be employed .in which other-coordinate systems, such as polar coordinates, may be-used. -Also, the scales may be differentially. compressed, as by the use of logarithmic scales, provided that the successive movements, described above are compressed or expanded in a corresponding manner. The lines separating the respective areas may bestair-stepped or otherwise shaped in any desired manner, provided that the. same points are included in the respective areas as indicated by Fig. l or 2. It is also clear that, the lines separating the respective areas maybe eliminated entirely, provided that each point representing the intersection of grid lines is defined as also representing the interword value correspondingto the if such lineshad been included in the. diagram.

The particular embodimentoi the invention described below is, adaptedto employthe procedures of justification, graphically illustrated with referenceto Figs. 1 and, 2'.'

Fig. 3 shows. an embodiment of the invention adapted to utilize the first proceduredescribed in connection with Fig.2. According to this procedure, for the examplefgiven above, the successive points which .determinethe successive interword widths are P8, P9, PH): and PM. The block diagram of Fig. 6 illustrates. the manner in which this device. may be. adapted to the other elements in a photographic composing machine.

As shown. in Fig. 6, the machine is provided with a keyboard 2. The keyboard is adapted to actuate a register l which isjtypically con structed in sucha manner that; it can store the. information representing allof the keyboard operations performedfor. any given line.

In addition, the keyboard actuates two switches SI and SZQshown also in "Fig. 3. The; switch SI is shown in a developed view (Fig. 3). Actually, the rows of contacts shown-as horizontal are arranged in circles the right-end contact 2. The first isanalogous areawithin which it would fall of each rowbeingadjacent to the left-end-con tact ofthe same-row Thus, the:-entire=array of contactsis cylindrical inshape.

It should be noted that, while it ishereassumed that the switch-S1 is .cylindrical, it will be apparent tothosefamiliar withthe-telephone art that the equivalent function may beprovided by a semicircular array if two brushes in each row, connection with means for switching from one brush to the other at the-appropriate positions.

The number of horizontal rows of the switch Si is equal to the maximunrnumber of interwords in any given-dine. The number. of contacts per row is equal to the" maximum number of units of line deficit in anygiven line. A brush such as ii is provided foreach' row, these brushes being mounted rigidly upon a rotating assembly moving from rightto'lei t over the con-' tacts, as shown in the developed view.

The switch S2 is a simplerotaryswitch pro-'- viding a means for selecting any --desi-r-ed brush such as 6.

At the beginning of the storage of each line the brush of the switch S2 is at its zero position. Each time the space bar -is actuated,-this brush moves one step in a clockwise direction. Thus, the switch s2 is an interword counter and may be thought of as measuring the=equivalent of the N dimension in Fig. 2.

Each time a character-key-is depressedthe brushes of the switch-SI move from right to left over a number of contacts equal to the number of units of width in-the particular character. When the space bar is'actuated the movement is by the number of units in the minimum-interword, which is 1 units. brings about these movements'may be a variable escapement similar -to that'whichis hereinafter described. The switch S1 thus serves as a means for measuring the line deficit and may be thought of as measuring the equivalent of the-D dimen-- sion in Fig. 2. In order-to measure the-D dimension, however, it'must be assumed that at.

any line having J=5+21nunits of width,.where n is any positive integer.

As shown in Fig. 3, the contacts of the switch: Si are connected in -groups, or elements, corresponding to the increment-areas of Fig. 2. Each such group is electricallyconnected through a wire such as 8 to a variable advance mechanism, such as a variable escapement-Hl (see also Fig. 6) which moves a carriage to-spacexthe characters in a mannerhereinaftermore fully described. By way of illustration of the relationship betweenthese groups of contacts and Fig. 2, the wire 8 represents the field i+3.

Immediately upon the final actuation of the keyboard for a given-line, and upon the completion or the final movements of the switches. SI and S2 (or simply of'the switch SI alone), the switches Si and S2 will have located-.a particular contact on theswitch-Sl which represents the line deficit and number. ofrinterwords; for the particular line. This is the-contact with which the brush is in contactbn the. row; selected by the switch S2.. It willbe notedthat mi -3 6011137 spaced degrees-apart, are used-in.

The mechanism which I contact which closes a circuit from the ground, through a contacton the switch S2, to a particular wire such as 8 leading into the variable escapement Ill.

After the storage, the characters are then photographically transcribed from the register, one at a time, and spaced under the control of the register and the switches SI and S2. This process is carried out under the control of timing means, designated as I2 in Fig. 6. For the purpose of this description the particular form of this timing means is not important, but by way of example it will be assumed that it is comprised of cam-operated electrical contacts. The timing means is adapted to cause a character forming means It to transcribe the selected characters stored in the register 4 onto a surface (in this example, by photographic projection), the surface being mounted on a carriage I6. The carriage I6 is moved under the control of the variable escapement I0.

For each keyboard operation stored in the register the timing means causes the following events to happen in succession during transcription:

First, the stored information is read from the register 4 and the appropriate image projected upon a photo-sensitive surface by the character forming means I4. If an interword is registered there will be no projection.

Second, a circuit is completed from the register 4 through the timing means I2 to the variable escapement IE! to cause a movement of the carriage I6 by a number of units corresponding to the width of the character. If an interword is registered the displacement will be equal to the minimum interword 1'.

Third, if an interword is registered, a circuit is completed from the timing means I2, which is assumed to be connected to a source of electrical energy, through the variable escapement I3 and the switch S I, to the switch S2, which is grounded (see also Fig. 3). This causes an additional movement of the escapement equal to the number of units of increment to be added to the interword as indicated by the positions of the switches i and 52.

Fourth, if there was a movement in step three, the brush of the switch SI is moved one step to the left, in accordance with the procedure outlined above with reference to Fig. 2.

Figs. 4 and 5 show in greater detail the construction of the variable escapement or feeding device I0. The carriage I6 is shifted in one direction by rotation of a shaft I8. For this purpose the carriage may be provided with a rack which is driven from the shaft I8 through a one-way clutch device diagrammatically shown at 22 to shift the carriage in response to rotation of the shaft E8 in one direction only. Device 22 may be a well-known ratchet and pawl arrangement connected between the shaft I8 and a pinion driving the rack 20.

Keyed to the shaft i8 is a disk 2 1 having on its periphery a series of notches of different widths separated by teeth. A number of sliding stops such as 26 cooperate with the disk 24, one stop being provided for each notch. These stops, preferably made of non-magnetic material, are secured to magnetic cores such as 28 which are electro-magnetically controlled by electromagnets such as 30, secured to a fixed frame 32. As shown in Fig. 4, each of these electromagnets is connected to a source of electrical potential in the timing means I2 and to one of the wires such as Heading into the switch SI. When one of these electromagnets is energized, the corresponding stop projects into the path of the disk 24 against the action of a return spring such as 34. An exception to this is for the electromagnet 36. When this electromagnet is not energized the stop 26 is projected into the path of the disk; and when it is energized the stop 26 is withdrawn.

The stops are so arranged that each one is placed at a different distance from a corresponding tooth. This provides means for selecting from a number of possible angular degrees of clockwise movement. For example, the stop 26, when in immediate contact with a tooth, prevents any clockwise rotation of the disk; a stop 3 5 provides for an angular displacement alpha; and a stop 38 provides for an angular displacement delta. The stops each provide an angular displacement which is a multiple of a unitary displacement, assumed here to be alpha, this unitary displacement causing a movement of the carriage I6 through the device 22 which is equal to one width unit.

The disk 24 is normally urged in a clockwise direction by a tension spring 40 which is connected to a core 42 of a magnet 44, normally unenergized, the core having a rack 46 engaging a pinion 48. The pinion 48 is keyed to the shaft I8.

When the third step in the transcription process referred to above is to be performed, a source of electrical potential is connected to one lead of each of the electromagnets such as 39. The other lead of only one of the normally disengaged electromagnets will find a circuit to ground through a wire such as 8 and the switch SI, in accordance with the above description; therefore only this stop will be projected into the path of the disk 24. It will be noted that no movement of the disk 24 will result until the magnet 30 is also energized, however. If the switch SI is assumed not to be in its zero position, this is accomplished by the comiection of a lead 56 (see Figs. 3, 4 and 6) to a ground in the timing means I2. If the switch SI is in its zero position a lead 52 (see Figs. 3 and 6) is grounded through the switch S2, thus providing a signal to the timing device I2 that the lead 50 is not to be grounded. Under these conditions there is no movement of the disk 24.

In the case where the disk 24 has been rotated clockwise by a certain angle it is returned to its original position by the action of the electromagnet 44 which is energized and causes the rack 46 to move toward the right.

It will be recognized that modifications of the embodiment described above may be brought about, such as by shifting the switch through a fixed angle, or by changing direction of movement, which modification would result in a change to one of the other procedures described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2.

It will also be recognized by those skilled in the telephone art that the switch SI, shown as a single cylindrical switch, may be readily replaced with a number of smaller multi-level stepping switches so interconnected as to produce the equivalent efiect.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a photographic type composing machine in which each typed line is first stored in a storage device and is then printed on a sensitive film from said storage device, a justifying device for controlling the spacing between words during said printing comprising, in combination, a stepping switch operated 1 the initial typing of each 'line to step the switch "around to a position correspondingto'the number of word spaces in y therspacer barduring the ityped line, a second stepping switch provided with a plurality of'rows of contacts each provided witha brush connected to a contact on said'first stepping switch, means for stepping said second switch-from a predetermined position towards a position'of-rest representing the maximum length of aprin'ted line,

the stepping of said second "switch being controlled in accordance with the length units in the line of stored characters, and a variable ad- 'vance mechanism for advancing the sensitive film during printing,

' ineach row to produce a predetermined advance of said film for each word space',"means' connecting the succeeding groups of contactsin each row' extending in the direction of said predetermined position irom'said :first group to control said advance mechanism through said firstswitch to produce increasing amounts of advance for each word spacaand means for stepping said second switch 'one step towards-said rest position for each word space during printing.

2. In a justifying device for photographic type composing machines in'whichadditional space is added to word spaces by a variable advance mechanism controlling the displacement of the film carriage, a control circuit for controlling the number of additional length units to be added to the successive word spaces comprising a stepping switch with as many brushes and associated terminal rows as there may be word spaces in the line, said terminals in each row being connected in groups each group comprising as many terminals as there are word spaces in the corresponding line, each group controlling an advance of the variable advance mechanism to move selectively the film carriage after every word space, means operating before the line is printed to move said brushes to a position spaced from th rest position a distance equal to the number of length units in the line remainder, a second stepping switch controlled by the number of word spaces in among said brushes the one corresponding to the number of word spaces in the line, and means for moving said brushes of said first switch one step towards the rest position after each word space during printing.

3. In a justifying device for a photographic type composing machine in which additional space is added to word spaces by mechanism controlling the displacement of a film carriage after the photographing of each word in a composed line, a first stepping switch operated during the composition of the line to a final position corresponding to the number of word spaces in the line being processed, a plurality of rows of contacts in which each row corresponds to a word space total and each contact in each row corresponds to a number of space units unconsumed in the processing of the line, control connections from groups of interconnected contacts to said mechanism, a second stepping switch having brushes playing over each row of said contacts, each brush being connected to one contact on said first switch, whereby the first switch operates to connect in the brush playing over the row of contacts corresponding to the number of the line to be printed for selecting word i'spaces 'inthe composed'line, and; "means-f or actuating's'aid second switchto stepsaid brushes progressively along said'rows or" contacts; where- 'by durin'g'the justiiying'operation the connected brush sequentially engages contacts energizing said filmmarriage mechamsm, the connected scribe the selected groups of contacts'in each'row 'being -efi'ective' to cause a predetermined advance of the filmcarriage, and'each successive group of contacts "in a row being efiective to" cause a decreasing amount of advance.

4. 'In apparatus for composing'jus'tified'lines'of written matter, the combination of a keyboard, storing information corresponding 'writ'ten *matter, "character forming means actuated by 'the register to transcharacters successively "upon 'a's'heet; spacing mechanism having'provisionfor "moving the character iorming means relativeto "said sheet in multiples of a unitdistancaspacing controls actuated 'bythe register for-causing' the mechanism to space the characters accordingto "their widths and minimum interwords, and a justifier for causing incremental movements of said mechanism, comprising stepping switch 'means having a held of elements oriented {with reference to a pair of coordinatesysaid'coordifnates respectively representing units of line"'def- -icitand numberof 'justification increments; each element being composed of "a number of ff'i nte'rconnected switch contacts and representing'a precomputed increment size corresponding to said coordinates, brush selector means controlled by the keyboard to step toward an ultimate position in said field corresponding to said line, said brush selector means having a circuit for actuating the spacing mechanism according to the element with which the brush selector means is connected for each increment during transcription of the line, and means for stepping the selector means to successive positions in said field during said transcription.

5. In apparatus for composing justified lines of written matter, the combination of a keyboard, a register for storing information corresponding to a line of selected characters of difierent widths and spaces in said written matter, character forming means actuated by the register to transcribe the selected characters successively upon a sheet, spacing mechanism having provision for moving the character forming means relative to said sheet in multiples of a unit distance, spacing controls actuated by the register for causing the mechanism to space the characters according to their widths and minimum interwords, and a justifier for causing incremental movements of said mechanism, comprising a field of elements arranged with reference to a pair of coordinates, said coordinates respectively representing units of line deficit and number of justification increments and each element representing a precomputed increment size corresponding to said coordinates, selector means movable relative to the field under the control of the keyboard and after each keyboard actuation to select an ultimate position in the field corresponding to said line, said selector means having a circuit for actuating the spacing mechanism according to the element with which the selector means is connected for each increment during transcription of the line, and means for stepping the selector means to successive positions in said field during said transcription.

6. In a composing machine having typing means for storing each line in a register and means for subsequently transcribing the line character-by-character, a justifying device for controlling the spacing between words during transcription comprising a. first stepping switch operated by the space bar during storage of the line and having contacts representing the number of stored word spaces, a second stepping switch provided with a number of rows of contacts, each row corresponding to a number of word spaces and each contact corresponding to a value of line deficit, and a brush for each row adapted for movement over said contacts, connections from the brushes to the contacts of the first stepping switch, means for stepping the second switch during storage of the line from a predetermined position toward a position representing the justified line length by amounts corresponding to the widths of the typed characters and minimum interword spaces, a variable advance mechanism operable by the register for spacing the characters during transcription, a circuit connecting the contacts of the second stepping switch in groups, each group being connected to the variable advance mechanism, whereby a selected contact on the second stepping switch completes a circuit from the first stepping switch to the variable advance mechanism, and means operable; during transcription of the line to step the second stepping switch to successive contacts corresponding to each increment.

7. In a justifying device for type composing machines in which additional space is added to word spaces in a line by a variable advance mechanism controlling the distance between characters, a justification device for controlling the multiple of a unit length value to be added to each word space comprising a stepping switch with as many brushes and associated terminal rows as there may be word spaces in the line, said terminals in each row being connected in groups, each group corresponding to a predetermined size of justification increment and com trolling an advance of the variable advance mechanism to add said additional length units, means operating during storage of the line to move said brushes to a position spaced from a rest position by a distance corresponding to the line deficit, a second stepping switch controlled by the number of word spaces in the line for selecting the brush on the first stepping switch corresponding to the number of word spaces in the line, and means for moving the brushes of the first switch to successive positions corresponding to each increment during transcription of the line, whereby the line is exactly justified.

ame Date Number N Bush July 10, 1945 

